Hadrian Howell
Hadrian was a longtime member of The Mechanical Maniacs as Hardman. He joined the Maniacs during Series 4 and left in the conclusion of Series 7. Hadrian created the well-received "Mechanical maniacs Moments" sprite comics for the site. In regards tot he canon epilogues he created Mesmerman and helped Rich orchestrate the Business of War event. Hadrian wrote the influential "Hardman's Bar" story which solidified his character. While not writing as much as others, Hadrian's contributions helped create a tone that defined Series 6 as well as numerous supporting well-received cast members. Personality Despite his claims to the contrary, Hardy is actually one of the most socially active members of the Mechanical Maniacs, as evidenced by his own establishment, Hardman’s Bar. He remains quite mindful of the feelings of those around him, even known enemies, and is often confided with amongst his team. Hardman is also more intelligent than most people perceive him to be, partly due to the stereotype associated with being his size, as well as a concentrated effort on his part to hide it unless needed. Despite the fact that the Mechs purposely exclude him from most of the more delicate missions, Hardman remains largely enthusiastic in his role. He’s mostly called in for jobs that require sheer power above finesse, or when collateral damage isn’t a concern. Hardman exhibits a certain pleasure in destroying his foes, and even in damaging his surroundings on occasion under the premise of “doin’ th’ job”. Hadrian started out as a heavy drinker, but has since reformed. Hadrian enjoyed a rivalry with Golemman of the Evil Eight (more so than previous versions of Hardman). Relationships Respects Shadowman to the utmost and is a loyal worker; friendly with Needle and Snake; somewhat friendly with Geminiman when Gem isn’t being a jerk towards Shadowman; Dynamic working relation with Top; Holds a bit of a grudge towards Magnetman (Kenta) for his brash ways; remains close with Spark Chan. Abilities Hardman wore the Transmetal 1 and Transmetal 2 versions of the Hardman armour. Series Information Within the series proper, Hardrian was introduced as a regular person the team of Extant, Ultimecia, and Xelloss sent to another reality as a test of their power. This was retconned in Hardman's Bar, which established that he and his best friend Cassandra started as bounty hunters and wound up as freedom fighters against the evil regime of the Cossackverse's Dr. Cossack and his Creations. With half the team absent, Shadow, Needle, Gemini, and Top invited Hadrian (and three others) into the team. Hadrian took part in many battles since then and accompanied the Mechs back to their reality (with his friend Cassandra in tow). Upon returning to our reality Hardman opened a bar and served both friends and enemies alike. The bar is simply known as “Hardman’s bar”. There he encourages grudges be put aside and everyone just be friendly to each other. Known waiters / waitresses include Megaman, Roll, Gag, and Cassandra (Megs and Roll would join the staff after the Mechs rescue Megaman and make good with the good guys). At one point in the Mechanical Maniacs Moments, Hadrian got drunk and created a "son" named Gag (aka "The Running Gag"). Later he seemed to turn evil, but this was a version from a dark future. This dark Hardman created the Ominous Octa , who were all easily defeated. A lot of story lines were coming to a head in the story Paradox Play ... which was speedily resolved when other future versions of the Mechanical Maniacs travelled to the past, killed the big bad guy (and anyone else they had to; they were just conveniently together so their car could run them over) and just talked things out with their darker selves, thusly averting their dark future. Hardman's Bar would eventually get burned down and robbed as part of a string of arsons with Needlegal as the likely perpetrator. Tracking down clues Hadrian find the Evil Eight involved. Turns out Needlegal really did all those crimes! Enter: Mesmerman, Hadrian's gift to the team. He led against the fight with Mesmerman (several times within the story) who is working for the mysterious Hakushaku who is actually a Unicron empowered Megaman Juno out for revenge. Hadrian delivers the final blow against the super powered madman, ending Unicron's threat. During the War, Hadrian would remain on the side of the RPD, valuing the life he established for himself over anything else. Unfortunately, Cassandra would have Siege's persona take over and become Constance. By the end his bar would be totally destroyed. Still, Hardman continued to fight on the side of the Robot Police all throughout the War and helped to turn the tide in a battle near the end by paying Artilleryman to betray his short-lived employer Chimeraman when he needed him most. This left Hardman with very little money. Cassandra died during the 15 year gap and Hadrian fell into a depression, got very drunk, fought with Diveman at Cass' funeral and was booted from the team. After a while he picked himself up and became a bounty hunter. Facing a new threat (that would reveal itself to be Middleman in Series 7's "Life After Life") the team reformed and Hadrian became Hardman once more! In the series 7 finale Hadrian would become injured after Magnetman destroys the Technodrome (in order to prevent it from causing further harm to the city). To secure his help, Classi makes a deal with Crorq. Feeling threatened by the surprisingly effective Mech he orders Hadrian off the team (and Kenta as well). Hadrian had no regrets however and looked forward to getting his real, human life back in order. Writer’s Notes Hardman calls whoever is in charge of the ‘Maniacs “boss” and this usually means Shadowman. Hardman’s speech is VERY “dirty” …. Think of it as being the same accent as the Thing from Fantastic Four. “’ou got ‘dat?” Size Debate - Hadrian has established that Hardman is 14 feet tall, Gauntlet maintains that he's only about 10 feet tall. His size descriptions have jumped around a lot recently, so being inconsistent won't be all that inconsistent. Either way, he's pretty huge. To note: Hardman being 14 feet tall means his armoured foot won’t fit through a standard size door. His being 10 feet tall means he’s likely to break the frame of most standard size doors while attempting to squeeze through. Category:Epilogue Characters